Alvarez's Game-Winner Lifts Bears Over Eagles

Sunday, December 13

Statesboro, GA.

6:00 PM

Mercer University

6-0,0-0SoCon

Georgia Southern

3-2,0-0Sun Belt

Mercer

Ga. Southern

Photo by: AJ Henderson

Alvarez's Game-Winner Lifts Bears Over Eagles

12/13/2020 8:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Ross Cummings led the Bears with 22 points.

By: Kraig Doremus

STATESBORO, Ga. – Down 16 points early in the second half, the Mercer Bears showed no quit and battled back with Neftali Alvarez's game-winning layup with no time remaining lifting the Black & Orange to a 77-75 win over the Georgia Southern Eagles.

Mercer (6-0) led early in the contest thanks to Felipe Haase's hot hand, but the Eagles of Georgia Southern took the lead with 14:20 to play in the half and led for the remainder of the period, eventually extending their advantage to double-digits.

With 9:45 on the clock, Leon Ayers III's fastbreak layup cut the Eagles' lead to one, 20-19, but less than 90 seconds later Georgia Southern led by 11 after a quick 10-0 run. The Bears responded with a 9-0 run of their own to make it a one possession game, 30-28, with 4:47 remaining. Ross Cummings began the ran with a three-pointer while Alvarez and Haase also contributed.

Mercer was unable to keep the momentum on its side as Georgia Southern (3-0) ended the opening half on a 10-4 spurt to take an eight point lead, 40-32, into the locker room. The Eagles came out of the locker room and quickly scored eight unanswered points to grab their largest lead of the night at the time, 48-32, and force a Mercer timeout.

Down 16 with 17:58 remaining, the Bears turned the tide, slowly inching their way back into the contest. Mercer cut the Eagles' advantage to single digits only 3:06 later when James Glisson III converted a layup. The Black & Orange trimmed the lead to a single point on two occasions before taking the lead, 68-67, with 5:17 to go thanks to another layup from Glisson III.

Mercer never led by more than three points, which came on two occasions in the final minutes – first when Neftali Alvarez hit two free throws (70-67) and again when Jeff Gary knocked down a jumper (72-69) with 3:16 to play.

With 51 seconds on the clock, Georgia Southern's Zack Bryant, who played his first game for the Eagles on Friday night, gave GSU the lead, 73-72. On the Bears' possession, the ball found its way into the hands of Haase, who recorded his first double-double for Mercer. Haase's triple put the Bears in front, but a step back jumper from Elijah McCadden with 15 seconds left made it seem as if free basketball would be played inside Hanner Fieldhouse. Neftali Alvarez, however, had other ideas, sending Mercer back to Macon with a victory in regulation.

Jeff Gary missed a three-pointer with four seconds on the clock, and by the time the ball landed out of bounds, only 0.3 seconds remained. Following an official review, the referees put six tenths of a second on the clock, which proved to be enough for Alvarez. With Gary inbounding the ball, Alvarez received the ball on the left block and converted the game-winner, allowing the Bears to leave Statesboro with a narrow win, 77-75.

Ross Cummings reached the 20-point mark for the second consecutive contest and paced Mercer with a 22-point effort on 6-of-11 shooting including 4-of-8 from three-point land. Haase scored 13 points and grabbed a career-best 16 boards to turn in his first double-double as a Bear. Off the bench, Glisson III contributed 13 points. Mercer shot 28-of-56 (50 percent) from the field and hit 12 three-pointers. Alvarez had eight points and dished out eight assists.

The Eagles' Zack Bryant scored a game-high 24 points in his second game for the home squad. Prince Toyambi contributed 13 while McCadden added 10 points. Georgia Southern took 71 attempts and connected on 29 (40.8 percent).

Each team grabbed 40 rebounds. Mercer coughed the ball up 22 times while forcing the Eagles into 13 miscues. Georgia Southern held a sizable advantage in points in the paint (50-32), but the Bears had a strong effort from the bench, which contributed 23 points while Southern's reserves only scored 15 points.

Greg Gary Quotables
ON THE WIN
"We found a way to win and played much better in the second half to chip away [at their lead]. We did not play well in the first half, and we had a number of guys who didn't play great but had some other guys who stepped up. That is a credit to our depth.

ON HIS HALFTIME MESSAGE
"We had to stop turning the ball over. They scored 40 points in the first half. If we limited their turnovers they wouldn't have been in transition as much. Georgia Southern is a good team. The Davidson loss [on Friday] was an outlier to be honest with you. They are well coached. They played hard, really hard and showed a lot of toughness."

ON THE CLUTCH THREE-POINT SHOOTING
"We have a number of guys that can hit that shot. Jeff [Gary] made some tough hustle plays. I think we grew up tonight. We came from behind. Learning how to win in different ways is really helpful. Anytime you can get a road win is big, especially when you don't play well. Georgia Southern had a lot to do with that. They did a great job defending and were very tough. I'm glad our guys fought back and made the big plays."

ON THE FINAL PLAY
"It's something we practice often. We actually practiced it this morning. Georgia Southern is tough because they switch everything, but Jeff was able to find Neftali [Alvarez] for the layup."

NOTABLES

The Bears improved to 6-0 on the season. A win over Georgia State on Wednesday would move Mercer to 7-0 for the first time since 1966-67.
The victory is Mercer's first against the Eagles since an 80-69 triumph in November of 2016.
Cummings reached the 20-point mark for the second consecutive game. After contributing a season-high 24 in a win over Southern Wesleyan, he poured in 20 points to lead the Bears.
Haase recorded his first double-double in a Mercer uniform, scoring 13 points and pulling down a career-high 16 boards.
Glisson III reached double figures for the second time this season, contributing 13 points off the bench. His season best of 14 came at Georgia Tech
The Bears shot 50 percent (28-of-56), making it the fourth time in six games that they hit 50 percent or more of their shots.
For the fourth time this season, Mercer connected on 10 or more three-pointers, hitting 12-of-29 in the win.

UP NEXT
The Bears will conclude their two-game road trip with a 6 p.m. contest at Georgia State on Wednesday. The game can be heard on the Mercer Sports Network (100.9 The Creek, Sports Mic) and seen on ESPN+.